Our Equilibrium
by Witch of Lock
Summary: Sometimes you just have to make use of physics to try to get close to your friend. But you end up liking them. And their hands are pretty. Naoki learns this lesson with Aichi.


"Aichi, how do you solve this?" Naoki scooted himself next to Aichi. The two had finished their club paperwork together and wanted to finish their schoolwork together before actually working out their decks to fix them up for the Messiah Scramble. Although the class was slower than the others, Physics was still difficult for Naoki. It was lucky that the cardfight club room was a Physics classroom so the two could use the equipment or glance at the spare textbooks.

"This one?" Aichi pointed to a problem in the middle of the page. Naoki nodded in confirmation. Aichi laughed a little. "I had trouble with that one too. Here's how you do it." Aichi reached over to Naoki's notebook.

_Wow... his hands are so small... I've never noticed before..._

Naoki couldn't help but lose focus. He couldn't quite retain what his friend was saying. Instead, he was focused on his voice. His laugh. Aichi's words were almost like music. And his hands. Naoki was filled with the urge to grasp those small, clean hands.

It was wrong.

Naoki snapped back to reality. Aichi hadn't noticed his friend's trip to wonderland. He turned around to face Naoki and gasped with worry.

"Naoki! Are you okay?! Do you have a fever?!" Aichi placed his hand on Naoki's forehead. That just made Naoki more embarrassed. Was he embarrassed? He wasn't quite sure.

"I'm fine, Aichi. So what was that about the resultant or something?"

"Ah! See, you find the hypotenuse here..."

Did Aichi like someone?

"...and then you use tangent here..."

Would it be Misaki?

"...and graph the resulting angle here..."

Or Kourin?

"...and be clear of your direction..."

Maybe even Kai...

"...and there you go! That's the resultant! 1678.9 km at 40° North of East." Aichi circled the answer three distinct times. His handwriting was clean, contrasting with Naoki's sloppy script. He thought of the angles. According to Aichi, they all pulled East, but one of the angles was in the fourth quadrant and pulled South instead of North. Because of that, the resulting angle was held back slightly.

Was that him? Was that Naoki to Aichi? Was Naoki just pulling Aichi back and keeping him from his full potential?

He thought of Kai, Kourin, and Misaki. Surely they all pushed Aichi forward and did nothing to hold him back. Any of the three would be a good match for Aichi. How could some punk who just started cardfight hold a candle to their shining lights?

Why did he think he even had a chance?

Naoki blinked back tears as he thanked Aichi and pulled his notebook away from his captain. He stopped working altogether and just sat there watching the magnificent, small hands race across the notebook and taping on the calculator. He just wanted to take one of them and tell Aichi just how much he meant.

"Aichi!" Naoki slammed his hand on the table.

"Yes, Naoki?" The light hit Aichi's eyes at the perfect angle. They absolutely were captivating. Naoki paused for a moment before changing the direction of what he was going to say.

"I'm going to head to the bathroom if you need me!"

"Okay, Naoki. Just remember that you have to use the one near the auditorium because the janitors are working on the others.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Naoki stood up and sprinted out of the room and down the hall. He made a few sharp turns, careful not to run into anyone, and practically slid into the boy's bathroom near the auditorium.

"Get it together, Naoki," he told himself, thoroughly dowsing his face in water. "It's not like your confessing to a girl... or is it? I'm so confused!" Naoki nearly drowned himself water. He rubbed his forehead and tried to calm down. "I have to think... How do I see Aichi? Yeah, he's cute but- No. No. He's my friend. My cute friend. Who I wouldn't mind going out with. No!"

Naoki leaned against the wall and smoothed out his hair. He started muttering to himself.

"If he doesn't like me, though... Would he still want me as a friend? Would he want me in the Cardfight Club still? Would-" He stopped talking for the moment. Naoki thought he heard footsteps. The steps stopped, then seemed to gradually wane. He resumed his monologue. "Aichi deserves much better than me... Much, much better... I'll just hide these feelings. That's it. If I hide them long enough, They'll go away! It'll be fine!"

Pleased with himself, Naoki strolled out of the bathroom and made his way to the Physics room where Aichi was fidgeting on his chair.

"Ah! N-Naoki! You're back!"

"Of course I am, Aichi." Naoki found the other boy's actions to be strange. Aichi was usually collected. Yes, he was timid, but not to that high of a degree.

"Ahem. Naoki... I... I forgot to help you with the second part of this problem."

Was that why Aichi was acting off? Was he embarrassed that he didn't help Naoki all the way through?

"Okay. What's it on?"

"The equilibrium. We have to find the equilibrium."

"What?"

"It's the opposite of these vectors. Its force would cancel out the other two's. You can almost say it completes them."

"But it means the other two won't get anywhere!" Naoki recalled what he said about himself.

"But maybe they're going astray! The equilibrium is the opposite of the resultant. It's equally important!" Aichi's face was red. It wasn't from shyness, Naoki knew that much.

"What are you getting at?!"

"Naoki! I-I-I overheard you in the bathroom!" he blurted out, "It- Sorry! I followed you because I wanted to make sure you're okay and-and-and- You're my equilibrium! N-no that's weird. I... I like you, Naoki!"

"B-but, s-someone like me?!" Naoki felt himself get flustered.

"I've liked you for awhile now..." Aichi muttered, "I... I thought maybe you only saw me as a friend..."

"No! I do see you as a friend, but that doesn't mean I can't like you in that way!" Naoki felt like he was arguing with himself. He was rationalizing himself over nothing. Aichi was there and clearly felt the same way.

"Naoki... Does... Can we?" Aichi looked at his feet. His bangs seemed to completely mask his face as he began to skirt around the subject. It seemed his train of confidence burnt out. Naoki stared at him for awhile.

"Yeah. I'll be happy to be your equilibrium." He grabbed Aichi's hands. "Let's go watch a movie or whatever couples do. Physics can wait."


End file.
